Canada has labeled China’s treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang as genocide, with Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu calling Canada the “lie of the century” and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying there are “credible reports”. Trudeau also refuted Cong Peiwu’s claim that the arbitrary detention of the two Canadians was China’s way of retaliating against Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou.
In a press conference Wednesday on the genocide of the Uighurs in Xinjiang and the arrest of two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, Trudeau said that most of the members of the Canadian House of Commons who voted to endorse the genocide had never been to Xinjiang or even to China in the past few years. They are alleging genocide only to ensure their own political gain. The allegations of genocide and forced labor in Xinjiang are the lie of the century,” said Cong Peiwu. The facilities in Xinjiang are ‘re-Education centers,’ and they are no different than the ‘anti-radical ideology centers’ in France.”
The extradition trial of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China’s huawei, is underway in court this week, and Cong Peiwu reiterated Meng’s innocence as a means for the U.S. to suppress Chinese high-tech companies and demanded that Canada release her, stressing that the arrest of the two Canadians had nothing to do with Meng’s case and that it was the two who committed the alleged crime of violating China’s national security.
Trudeau hit back at Cong Peiwu’s claim in a subsequent press conference. “We have paid and will continue to pay serious attention to credible reports of human rights violations by China against the Uighur people in Xinjiang. Significant concerns have been expressed around the world, and the Canadian Parliament has made its views clear. Canada and its international allies have made a concerted effort to get a statement from China, to hold it accountable, and to remind China of the consequences it will bear.”
Trudeau also refuted Cong Peiwu’s claim that China’s arrest of Kang Mingkai and Spavor had nothing to do with Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou. He said, “No. Obviously, they were arrested on national security charges just days after we fulfilled our extradition obligations. Chinese officials had made it very clear that the two cases were absolutely linked together under a framework. Nothing the ambassador says now will convince me.”
Last year, the Canadian media asked Cong Peiwu why the two Canadians were arrested as a means of coercive diplomacy, and instead of answering directly, Cong Peiwu volunteered to mention Meng Wanzhou; at a later press conference, the media asked Cong Peiwu why the two Canadians were not granted visual access, and Cong Peiwu volunteered to mention Meng Wanzhou again.
The two Canadians have been detained for more than 800 days, and last month Canada launched the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations, an international declaration that hopes to deter some countries from using arbitrary detention as a bargaining chip in diplomatic negotiations. The Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations was launched last month. On Wednesday, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement mentioning that “58 countries and the European Union, a total of 59 parties, have signed the declaration, and many countries around the world agree that arbitrary arrest and detention of citizens of other countries is unacceptable.”
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